Ordeal spanned five-year period

An Oregon man convicted of sexually assaulting and torturing a Southwest Louisiana woman with whom he fathered a child and whom he forced to engage in prostitution has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison.

Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook said Gammion McCloud, 37, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of travel to engage in criminal sexual activity and one count of interstate domestic violence.

He was sentenced to 300 months in prison and five years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $73,550 in restitution. 

Van Hook said in a news release that over a five-year period McCloud acted as a pimp for the victim, locking her in a small cage and forcing her to engage in acts of prostitution. He also raped and tortured her in the presence of their young child.

Van Hook said the woman and her child were able to escape during a 2014 trip to Louisiana.

Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso said in a 2015 news conference that McCloud was accused of “continually” raping and beating the victim at a local hotel March 5-22, 2014. He said McCloud burned the woman with cigarettes, and held a gun to her and raped her as the child cried in the bed.

She was able to escape after McCloud doused her in gasoline and set her on fire.

Mancuso said McCloud was ultimately arrested in Oregon after breaking into someone’s home.

“He broke into a home of a veteran and had a confrontation with the veteran,” he said. “I think the veteran won and was able to hold him there and basically deal with him until authorities got there. I think he tried to get away and they ended up Tasing him.”

McCloud had faced one count of aggravated rape, one count of aggravated incest and two counts of second-degree battery in Calcasieu Parish. His bond was set at $1.25 million.